Elderly man found dead in Pontiac house fire

An elderly man was found dead Wednesday in his burning home near downtown Pontiac, according to fire officials.

Crews from the Waterford Regional Fire Department responded around 7:30 a.m. to the blaze on the 300 block of West Huron near Johnson Avenue, Deputy Chief Matt Covey said.

“Upon arrival, (we were told) there was possibly an elderly man inside the home,” Covey said. “Fire crews made entry to look for the location of the fire and also to look for the man.”

Firefighters had difficulty getting inside the home and fighting the blaze due to hoarding conditions.

“There’s a lot of debris inside the home,” he said. “It made it difficult to put the fire out.”

Crews found the man inside, dead at the scene, Covey said. The man’s identity is not being released by officials as the Oakland County Sheriff Office handles the death investigation.

The man’s cause of death remained unclear early Wednesday afternoon. Officials with the sheriff’s office did not immediately return a call for comment.

A firefighter at the scene suffered a broken finger but is expected to be OK, Covey said. In addition to the Waterford crew, officials from the West Bloomfield Fire Department responded to the scene while the Bloomfield Township department covered other area emergencies Wednesday morning.

The scene in Pontiac was cleared around 10:45 a.m., Covey said. Both the blaze and death remained under investigation Wednesday afternoon.

HFournier@detroitnews.com

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